Genealogy Terms Starting with D

daughter-in-law A daughter-in-law is the wife of an individual's son. Daughter-in-law also used to mean "step-daughter."

dec'd (abbreviation) deceased.

deceased commonly written "the deceased," meaning someone who has died.

descendant Your descendants are your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on -- anyone to whom you are an ancestor.

declaration of intention a declaration of intention is a document filed in a court by an alien who intended to become a United States citizen. It could also be a declaration filed by a couple in a local court, indicating their intention to marry.

deed document transferring ownership and title of property.

devise gift of real property by last will and testament of the donor.

devisee person receiving land or real property in the last will and testament of the donor.

devisor person giving land or real property in a last will and testament.

direct line line of decent traced through persons who are related to one another as a child and parent.

directories directories come in all types: city, telephone, county, regional, professional, religious, post office, street, ethnic, and school. The directories you search will depend on the type of information you know about the individual. The information that you can find in a directory depends on the type of directory. For example, city directories normally list names and addresses. In some city directories you can also find information such as children's names, marriage dates, death dates, and birth dates. Other types of directories may provide you with even more interesting information about your ancestors. For instance, a church directory may tell you about an individual's involvement in church activities, professional directories may give you insight into your ancestor's professional life, and club directories may contain information about your ancestor's involvement in social activities.

dissenter name given a person who refused to belong to the established Church of England.

div. (abbreviation) divorced.

double date the practice of writing double dates resulted from switching from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, and also from the fact that not all countries and people accepted the new calendar at the same time.

dowager widow holding property or a title received from her deceased husband; title given in England to widows of princes, dukes, earls, and other noblemen.

dower legal provision of real estate and support made to the widow for her lifetime from a husband's estate.

download downloading is electronically extracting files from a network or bulletin board system for use on your own computer. Many bulletin board systems with genealogy sections have files that you can download.

dowry (also dowery) land, money, goods, or personal property brought by a bride to her husband in marriage.